Zangfu


The zangfu are functional relationships stipulated by traditional Chinese medicine. This concept did not primarily develop out of anatomical biological considerations, but from cosmological patterns and influences.
Each zang is paired with a fu, and each pair is assigned to one of the Wuxing . The zangfu are also connected to the twelve standard meridians – each zang organ is attached to a yin meridian, and each fu organ, to a yang meridian. They are five systems of Heart, Liver, Spleen, Lung, Kidney.
To highlight the fact that the zangfu are not equivalent to the anatomical organs, their names are often capitalized.

Anatomical organ association

The zangfu were originally considered to represent physical organs in Suwen. A few rare waves of human dissection throughout Chinese history have contributed some refinements to the rough anatomical assumptions in traditional Chinese medicine, though no fundamental errors were corrected. In this context, the influx of western anatomical knowledge lead to a crisis for TCM. This was resolved by 's introduction of Zangxiang theory in the 1920s, which decoupled the zangfu from anatomical organs.

Yin/yang and the Five Elements

Each zangfu organ has a yin and a yang aspect, but overall, the zang organs are considered to be yin, and the fu organs, yang.
Since the concept of the zangfu was developed on the basis of wuxing philosophy, they are incorporated into a system of allocation to one of five elemental qualities. The zangfu share their respective element's allocations and interact with each other cyclically in the same way the Five Elements do: each zang organ has one corresponding zang organ that it disperses, and one that it reinforces or tonifying and sedative.
The correspondence between zangfu and Five Elements are stipulated as:

Details

The zang organs' essential functions consist in manufacturing and storing qi and blood. The hollow fu organs' main purpose is to transmit and digest substances.

''Zang organs''

Each zang has a corresponding "orifice" it "opens" into. This means the functional entity of a given zang includes the corresponding orifice's functions.
In listing the functions of the zang organs, TCM regularly uses the term "governing" – indicating that the main responsibility of regulating something lies with a certain zang.
Although the zang are primarily functional entities, TCM gives vague locations for them – namely, the general area where the anatomical organ of the same name would be found. One could argue that this positioning of the zang is irrelevant for the TCM system; there is some relevance, however, in whether a certain zang would be attributed to the upper, middle or lower jiao.

Heart

Since there are only five zang organs but six fu channels, the remaining meridian is assigned to the Pericardium. Its concept is closely related to the Heart, and its stipulated main function is to protect the Heart from attacks by exterior pathogenic factors.

Spleen

  • "Stores" the blood inside the vessels, houses the yi, paired with Stomach
  • Governs "transportation and transformation", i.e. the extraction of jing wei – and water – from food and drink, and the successive distribution of it to the other zang organs.
  • Is the source of "production and mutual transformation" of qi and xue
  • Opens into the lips
  • Governs muscles and limbs

Liver

  • "Stores" blood, houses the hun, paired with Gall Bladder
  • Governs "unclogging and deflation" primarily of qì. The free flow and harmony of qì in turn will ensure the free flow of emotions, blood, and water.
  • Governs the tendons
  • Opens into the eyes
  • Reflected in the nails

Lung

  • Houses the po, paired with Large Intestine
  • Governs the skin, hair and the exterior
  • Opens into the nose
The function of the Lung is to disperse and descend qi throughout the body. It receives qi through the breath, and exhales the waste, and aids the peristaltic action of the gastrointestinal tract. A properly functioning Lung organ will ensure the skin and hair are of good quality, and that the immune system is strong and able to fight disease. The normal direction of the Lung is descending, but when Lung qi "rebels", it goes upwards, causing coughing and wheezing. When the Lung is weak, there can be skin conditions such as eczema, thin or brittle hair, and a propensity to catching colds and flu. The Lung is weakened by dryness and the emotion of grief or sadness.

Kidney

  • Houses the zhi, paired with Bladder
  • Governs birth, growth, reproduction and development
  • Opens into the ears
The Kidneys store jing Essence. They also produce the Marrow which fills the spinal cord, brain and control the bones. The Kidneys are often referred to as the "Root of Life" or the "Root of the Pre-Heaven Qi".

Criticism

The concept of the zangfu is not identified by evidence based medicine – the underlying assumptions and theory have not been verified or falsified by controlled experiments. As the study and practice of Traditional Chinese medicine's mechanisms are comparatively new in the west it has been criticized as pseudoscientific.